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Audi EV
- Thread starter vfx
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- Electric Vehicles
EV_de
Model SP10/XP9 EU ZOE#47
If they cancel their R8 electric car too, that would be stupid in my mind. Even if they have no immediate plans to produce a mass market EV, the knowledge gained from having one model on the road would be great and allow them to step into the market more easily in the future.
Well...
That's certainly reasonable... Though I'd hope they would continue to work on the technology to get the pricing down or the performance up enough to warrant the price.
No one I know in the R8 community seemed remotely interested in an electric version of their car which had questionable looks, shorter range, poorer performance and costs more. IMO that thing's a dud.
ya, they missed the target there.
Audi R8 (road car) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Model S performance will be .4 seconds faster and cost less than the v8 R8.
R8 v8 starts at 114k, throws down 420ish-hp and something like 313ftlb of torque.
I just can't see the car making much sense for much other than a novelty item. I'd take a roadster power train in the R8 body though
*edit* while I don't think anyone knows the projected MSRP of the etron, most indications were that it was going to be in the price range of the R8 GT which itself is a waste of money at damn near 200k.
Now that the Tesla Roadster itself is history, the imitators no longer feel the need to follow through with production it seems.
Well, there's another manufacturer that won't be around in 10-20 years.
My logic here is that gasoline prices are going to continue to rise, and probably there will be nasty spikes as the supply constricts (due to a combination of peak oil production plus booming demand in India and China). At the same time battery costs are dropping just as rapidly. There will be a turning point where the market will flip over hard to EVs, and companies that aren't fully on board with the best EV products will be toast.
My logic here is that gasoline prices are going to continue to rise, and probably there will be nasty spikes as the supply constricts (due to a combination of peak oil production plus booming demand in India and China). At the same time battery costs are dropping just as rapidly. There will be a turning point where the market will flip over hard to EVs, and companies that aren't fully on board with the best EV products will be toast.
Eh, you forget brand power though. There is a big value in the brand. If they get caught flat-footed, but recover in a reasonable amount of time, they'll be fine. It's not like the world is going to suddenly switch to 100% EVs and all makers of gas vehicles will go under. I imagine it'll be a gradual transition in which time most manufacturers will have time to make a decision on how to proceed. At most, they're just going to give companies like Nissan (and Tesla) a head start.
You remember 2008? Where all of a sudden nobody wanted to buy a SUV or any other car made by the Big Three that had 15mpg? Markets can turn sharply because consumers do. When it happened, all affected car manufacturers were in big trouble, all at the same time.
With Audi cancelling electrified versions of A1 and A2, that is another emphasis to Tesla's approach: start top-down, with premium class cars where the extra cost of the electric drive train can be packaged into a top act car. In other words, there is no viable solution for stuffing batteries in small sized car today.
.. comes with battery leasing. Matthias Wissmann, former German secretary of research and technology, later for traffic, and now head of the German Vehicle Manufacturer Association (VDA), has dismissed battery change concepts altogether. I wouldn't be surprised if German manufacturers all align behind him to say no to battery lease, too.
mgemmell
Scottish chap
Agreed. I predict that when people see the Model S on the road in numbers, and read about it in well-balanced articles it will start a sea-change of opinion. The large manufacturers will first rubbish Tesla and then rush to compete inadequately.
Toyota stand to do the best out of this as they are already working with them, whilst the others are unlikely to look back favourably on their decisions of the last 5 years.
It will be a switch as radical as the Analog to Digital switch in audio, the fixed to mobile switch in telephony, and the paper mail to email switch in communications... in less than 10 years it will be all over for ICE. In fact, I predict that by 2020 it will be all over bar the shouting.
Just my rather biased opinion of course.
I see your point Volker, but remember, those manufacturers actually had more cars to sell than SUVs (well, except some of the brands like Hummer). They took a hit, but rebounded. They had plenty of time to adapt and I think that if we see rapid adoption of EVs, the manufacturers not currently on board will also have time to get with the program. Even if gas hit a really high number, we'd likely see more sales of hybrids and very fuel efficient cars alongside EVs.
I just can't picture a switch to EVs so rapid that it would become the meteor to the dinosaurs of the auto industry.
I just can't picture a switch to EVs so rapid that it would become the meteor to the dinosaurs of the auto industry.
Talkredius
Member
+ It's not necessary that everyone switches to an EV, let's assume only 20 % will switch. That would be a loss of market volume about 20 % on an European market where the Asian automakers want to get their share...
That would be a very hard time for the German automakers if they have no EV like Tesla Model S, and they are far away from that...
WhiteKnight
_____ P85 #549 _____ Sig Red / Sig White
I think the idea of buying the car and leasing the battery pack is genius. Then the consumer can compare the car price to its ICE equivalent and compare the battery lease (+ electricity) to what they spend per month on gas.
FalconNinetyD
Active Member
No update to his LinkedIn page:
Director, Electric Vehicles
Volkswagen Electronics Research Lab
2009 – 2011 (2 years)
But this article in Wired says he was leaving VW at the end of 2010...
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